Not looking at frames or forks at the moment, the transition is dialed now and any changes done to it in that regards will probably throw it off. Only thing I plan on changing are the wheels and rear tire. Want back on a cassette hub. I will not consider the rhyno lite/deore/deore xt combo or any wonder of a deal wheelset that can be found on pricepoint/jensonusa.

Wheels I have mentioned in that post, tire will be another 26x2.15 maxxis dth, since I'm liking the holy roller/dth combo.

Something just occured to me. If you have skills to build a bike why would you bother with friction shifters based on the assimption you don't neeto service them so often? If my indexed gears aren't indexing I pull over, pull out rhe tool kit and fix it. Its either the limits or the tension - neither are hard to optimize.

I would put together a "for fun" build, but my bike took many hours of researching parts whenever I found deals, and that was when I was actually looking to buy them. I can't bring myself to put in the time on a hypothetical build.

^This. Fortunately for those interested & for my own ego, I documented my build: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...in-Bike-Build! (warning: the majority of this build is actually just the knowledgable guys/gals here teaching me about credit cards, & then eventually how to assemble/tune a bicycle)

And on another note, to the OP, why are you so desperate to show everyone that you understand how to assemble a bike? This makes what, two..three threads/dialogs now specifically about you giving people either actual or hypothetical advice on how to build a bike? It's an interesting topic for sure, but time & time again you prove to only know basic knowledge about bicycles & very little pertaining to mountain biking itself. It's a free country, but might I suggest either taking the time to listen & learn, or taking your knowledge where it's more useful?

Something just occured to me. If you have skills to build a bike why would you bother with friction shifters based on the assimption you don't neeto service them so often? If my indexed gears aren't indexing I pull over, pull out rhe tool kit and fix it. Its either the limits or the tension - neither are hard to optimize.

in his defense, getting indexing to work flawlessley can sometimes be a real pain in the ass. on most of the bikes I build I do all the bolting and setting up but when its time to tune the derailleurs I bring it to my shop because as the son of an owner and as a 40something year old who has been working on bikes his entire life he gets it PERFECT in about 1-2 minutes. A lot of the old timers love those old friction shifters and they are pretty cheap but slx shifters at 38 bucks is pretty cheap too.

It's fine if a kludged-together amalgamation of bottom-end parts trips your trigger. But it's still not a mountain bike; it's a cobby commuter. For too much money.

The point was to see how people would make changes and go in their own direction with it.

Originally Posted by Burton

Right. So in 2010 you started a thread in the Touring forum asking for help learning how to cook cheap food because you were so broke you barely had any money for food; as of your most recent update (last month) you're available budget is up to $80/ month in food - but now somehow you've actually managed to squirrel away several thousand dollars during that same timeframe. And apparently the idea of a job still isn't on your agenda.

But you actually expect people to take your posts seriously.

It sounds like a closed question to come to a negative conclusion. And I'm not sure if personal attacks are justified if you don't know the details.

That's what I'm talking about. I wanted to see what personal preferences people have to share with others.

Originally Posted by krobinson103

Something just occured to me. If you have skills to build a bike why would you bother with friction shifters based on the assimption you don't neeto service them so often? If my indexed gears aren't indexing I pull over, pull out rhe tool kit and fix it. Its either the limits or the tension - neither are hard to optimize.

I'd have the bottom bracket and crankset and probably the headset as well installed in a shop. I don't find derailleurs always that easy to adjust. I think my hypothetical build is taken a little too seriously.

Originally Posted by samburger

^This. Fortunately for those interested & for my own ego, I documented my build: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...in-Bike-Build! (warning: the majority of this build is actually just the knowledgable guys/gals here teaching me about credit cards, & then eventually how to assemble/tune a bicycle)

And on another note, to the OP, why are you so desperate to show everyone that you understand how to assemble a bike? This makes what, two..three threads/dialogs now specifically about you giving people either actual or hypothetical advice on how to build a bike? It's an interesting topic for sure, but time & time again you prove to only know basic knowledge about bicycles & very little pertaining to mountain biking itself. It's a free country, but might I suggest either taking the time to listen & learn, or taking your knowledge where it's more useful?

Taking your knowledge where it's more useful? People are free to exchange ideas here if they want. I think that's what a forum is for. It's true I did talk about building in other threads. But, I wanted to start one thread on that so I could keep it here. Or others could discuss it here.

all i gotta say if you don't like the premise of the op's thread, don't comment in it. If it's off topic for the forum which it's placed, ask for it to be moved. This is the mtb forum, he posted a hypothetical build and asked other to do so, whats the problem with that? if you have personal beef based off of other interactions whith him, why not just ignore it?

before i started really looking at quality and cost it was like, "aww yeah this is gonna be this bees knees!". in the mean time id had a bike with grip shift and tourney derailleurs.
even when i bought my norco, i could have done abit more research and probably get a better bike for what i paid.
now that ive taken the time to really read info on items and how YOURSELF want your bike,its easier to realistically peice together the beast you wanna ride.
because of lack of info its cost me an additional 200-250$(cdn) to really get to the bike i want to ride and even then my parts are not all very high end, but imo better than stock (in my personal situation).

And yes, somewhere more useful. Like the "what should I buy?" thread. Where people still need to learn the absolute basics.

Please don't send him to mislead the noobs. I recently saw him telling a guy looking for a down hill bike that he should consider friction shifters. Um because they are more trouble free when you are touring or something.

Please don't send him to mislead the noobs. I recently saw him telling a guy looking for a down hill bike that he should consider friction shifters. Um because they are more trouble free when you are touring or something.

I'm not sure I put it that way. I would have said "you have the flexibility to use friction shifters". And this would have been said for a lower cost 8 speed bicycle. (Guessing because you didn't quote the post.)

I would have said "you have the flexibility to use friction shifters".

And your "advice" still would have been totally useless for the person's situation.

It is quite obvious you know very little about mountain bikes, although you seem to have some general bicycle knowledge. You would really serve yourself - - and everyone else - - better if you spent more time reading and absorbing the information on this forum rather than attempting to dispense any.

all i gotta say if you don't like the premise of the op's thread, don't comment in it. If it's off topic for the forum which it's placed, ask for it to be moved. This is the mtb forum, he posted a hypothetical build and asked other to do so, whats the problem with that? if you have personal beef based off of other interactions whith him, why not just ignore it?

OK - I'll almost agree with you. Except that he didn't post a hypothetical mtb build in the mtb forum. He posted a hybrid build in the mtb forum and called it a mtb. According to the guys at Shimano and the catalogues they publish, Alivio, Acera and Tourney components are all designed for city bikes - NOT for offroad use. That makes his 'build' a city bike.

Really? My first MTB was a base model Hardrock with an Acera/Alivio drivetrain. It took a beating for a few years and 10+ years later is rolling strong as my around town kid transporter with the original group. It ain't light, and the shifting occurs at a methodical speed, but man, at least in that generation, that stuff was tough. Although, now that I think of it, my wife had an identical bike, and no matter who tuned hers it just wouldn't shift.

Either Specialized used to stick hybrid components on base model Hardrocks in the assumption that it would be sufficient for most people (being it the entry level MTB), or the intended use of those components has changed over the years. I don't think anyone is implying that you can't ride the trails unless you're on a mountain bike. But if you're going to do a hypothetical mountain bike build, I think it is implied that only mountain bike parts would be used.

Really? My first MTB was a base model Hardrock with an Acera/Alivio drivetrain. It took a beating for a few years and 10+ years later is rolling strong as my around town kid transporter with the original group. It ain't light, and the shifting occurs at a methodical speed, but man, at least in that generation, that stuff was tough. Although, now that I think of it, my wife had an identical bike, and no matter who tuned hers it just wouldn't shift.

There are a lot of mtb STYLED bikes on the market, and a lot like rear spoilers on cars - it has absolutely nothing to do with function. I've driven a sportscar on a beach more than a few times - that didn't make it a dunebuggy.

I've gone offroad a lot with a hybrid myself. Point being that the derailleurs aren't designed to handle the shock of even small jumps and shifting performance is affected by rough terrain. So no-one's saying you CAN'T do it - Shimano clearly states that's not what it was designed for, and that it won't stand up as well as other components specifically designed for offroad use.

to be fair, alivio isnt TERRIBLE....that being said the only alivio components on my bike currently are the FD and my shifter pods....and you cant really mess those up (but im not really reading great things about the functionality of the alivio mega 9 FD so i may end up eating my words on that one)

There are a lot of mtb STYLED bikes on the market, and a lot like rear spoilers on cars - it has absolutely nothing to do with function. I've driven a sportscar on a beach more than a few times - that didn't make it a dunebuggy.

Shimano clearly states that's not what it was designed for, and that it won't stand up as well as other components specifically designed for offroad use.

In 2001 or so, the Hardrock was definitely marketed as an entry level MTB. It, the Tassajara, the Trek (I think ) 4500 were a few of the bikes that were positioned as being the lowest priced bikes capable of legitimately being ridden off road. With the understanding, obviously, that you might have to replace the fork at some point. Built to a price, heavy, slack of course, but the components were undoubtedly tough enough for XC. As, I said they still are working fine and even see dirt a few times a year on some flowy stuff with my kid on the back!

In 2001 or so, the Hardrock was definitely marketed as an entry level MTB. It, the Tassajara, the Trek (I think ) 4500 were a few of the bikes that were positioned as being the lowest priced bikes capable of legitimately being ridden off road. With the understanding, obviously, that you might have to replace the fork at some point.

Really? I used to have an '06 Tass (I think it was an '06, anyway) and I'm pretty sure it came with full Deore. Fork wasn't that great (Manitou Axel), but it really wasn't that bad of a bike. That bike was also like a $700 bike in '06, almost twice as much as the entry level Hardrock (and had the componentry expected at that price point). Unless the '01 Tass was a completely different bike, I can't imagine that one step down from the Tass (I think that was the Piranha? Same fork, Deore with Alivio FD according to Bikepedia) would have been designed as incapable of legitimately being ridden off-road.

EDIT: I just looked up the '01. Looks like the drivetrain was a step down, and the fork had a little less travel (no surprise for its age), but that year they still offered the Marlin below the Tass, which looks capable enough to me. Really, you have to go waaaay down to the Advance, which was $360 as opposed to the Tass's $570, before you hit hi-ten in the frame and something I probably wouldn't want to ride trails on.

Really? I used to have an '06 Tass (I think it was an '06, anyway) and I'm pretty sure it came with full Deore. Fork wasn't that great (Manitou Axel), but it really wasn't that bad of a bike. That bike was also like a $700 bike in '06, almost twice as much as the entry level Hardrock (and had the componentry expected at that price point). Unless the '01 Tass was a completely different bike, I can't imagine that one step down from the Tass (I think that was the Piranha? Same fork, Deore with Alivio FD according to Bikepedia) would have been designed as incapable of legitimately being ridden off-road.

You could well be right. I am remembering 10+ year old pre purchase research. Maybe the Gary Fisher was a step up from where I was looking. Or maybe there were different trims just like with the Hardrock. My point about the HR being XC competent still stands though...

Agreed there...the Hardrock was a more than competent bike. For a while though, the "XC" version was the Hardrock XC, since the Hardrock itself was overbuilt (could still be used for XC though, obviously). Those overbuilt Hardrocks were pretty frickin' cool though...